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Norway Wins the Bocuse d’Or Competition

Geir Skeie, right, a chef from Norway, celebrates with his teammates after winning the Bocuse d'Or cooking competition on Wednesday.Credit
Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

LYON, France

After a two-day marathon of cooking and judging that pitted chefs from 24 countries against each other, the chef from Norway won the Bocuse d'Or, the cooking competition known as the Olympics of Food.

The Swede took the silver, the Frenchman the bronze and the American came in sixth.

Paul Bocuse, who created the competition in his name 22 years ago, and many of the top chefs here, both French and foreign, were rooting for the American team to get the gold. American victory would insure more American interest, investment and validation of the award.

But Timothy Hollingsworth, the 28-year-old American chef who is the sous-chef at the Napa Valley restaurant, French Laundry, did not fulfill his hopes.

In the previous 11 contests since 1987, a Frenchman has won the gold medal six times, a Norwegian three. Sweden and Luxembourg both won once. The Americans have never even won the silver or bronze; the best an American placed was sixth in 2005.

Geir Skeie, the 28-year-old chef at Mathuset Solvold in Sandefjord, Norway, will go home with a trophy of a golden effigy of Mr. Bocuse in his chef's outfit and 20,000 euros, about $26,000.

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Spectators on Monday cheered as the French team won the pastry competition that preceded the Bocuse d'Or cooking contest in Lyon, France.Credit
Owen Franken for The New York Times

In a bittersweet irony for Thomas Keller, the American judge and Mr. Hollingsworth's boss, the Swede, Jonas Lundgren, who works at the three-star Paris restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, worked before that at the French Laundry. In the official press packet, he credited Mr. Keller as one of the sources of his culinary inspiration.

The most bitter disappointment was felt by France. Philippe Mille, the 34-year-old Frenchman who is the sous-chef at the three-star Paris restaurant Le Meurice, was a strong candidate, and many expected him to win. But his fish dish came out a minute late, which cost the French team 12 points in the scoring, according to a text message from his boss, three-star chef Yannick Alléno.

This year for the first time, the American team made a major effort to win the competition, with Mr. Bocuse enlisting Thomas Keller, chef of the French Laundry and of Per Se, in Manhattan, as the team's president. Mr. Bocuse also arranged for Daniel Boulud, of Daniel and other renowned New York restaurants, to be the contest's honorary president.

The team raised $500,000 and Mr. Hollingsworth was given a paid leave from the restaurant for more than three months. He trained 40 to 50 hours a week in a replica of the kitchen cubicle he would use in Lyon. He was coached by the chef Roland Henin, Mr. Keller's mentor.

But in the end, the other teams were simply stronger this year.

The Norwegian team's seafood creation included a loin of cod with lightly smoked scallop and cod belly, green pea spheres and brandade, a Playmobile-like construction of peas, prawns and onions; red beet cube with Jerusalem artichokes and black truffles; potato and leek with quail egg; and reisling and horseradish emulsion.

For its meat creation, it served beef ribs with duck foie gras; tenderloin with black truffles and oxtail with celeriac; parsley root with spinach and glazed ox cheek; green beans and artichokes; a brown onion pyramid; potato, black truffle and bone marrow; and beef reduction with bay leaf and parsley.

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The chef Paul Bocuse, seated, who started the competition.Credit
Owen Franken for The New York Times

For its seafood entry, the French team prepared a fillet cod garnished with citrus; domes of prawns in Biarritz herbs; cones of leeks and baby squid with sea urchin roe; and tarts with scallops and baby spinach topped with a layer of caviar. The female commentator for the competition called the French seafood platter" beautiful," adding that it had "a lot of sharp angles. It looks dangerous and delicate at the same time."

For its meat entry, the French team presented a rib steak with barbecued grilled foie gras; fillet of beef with tiny garden vegetables; a three-dimensional angular creation of oxtail and caramelized celery; braised beef cheeks with carrot topiary and a miniature shrub of leeks.

The meat dish, a tribute to André Le Nôtre, was aimed at evoking a French formal garden.

For its seafood entry, the American team played it safe. It prepared an olive oil poached loin of cod enveloped on scallop mousse, preserved Meyer lemon and Sicilian pistachios with citrus mousseline and shrimp nage. A poached cod -- a classic -- allows the chef to easily control the temperature and helps keeps the fish moist.

It also presented wild prawn and Haas avocado tarts with fennel compote, chili peppers and yuzu gelee; agrumato custard with shellfish bouillon and candied orange zest; and Yukon gold potato and bacon mille-feuille, with crème-fraiche-enriched King Richard Leeks, Hobbs bacon chip and a large dollop of Sacramento Delta Osetra caviar.

One component of the American beef dish was presented in stemmed crystal globes illuminated from below.

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CHEF AND PATRIOT Timothy Hollingsworth is the American at the Bocuse dOr.
Credit
Walt Disney World

The judging follows a complex system. Twenty-four judges from 24 countries serve on either a meat or a fish jury. The highest and lowest scores given to each chef are disregarded and the rest are tallied to determine scores.

The quality of the food determines two-thirds of the score, 40 points; presentation counts for 20 points. If there is a tie, another 20 points will be awarded based on factors like organization, teamwork, cleanliness and a lack of waste.

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In between, the platters have to be showed to the judges, photographed and divided into individual portions for judging.

Cultural differences between the United States and France were on display in the kitchens of their chefs.

Mr. Hollingsworth, did squats and arm stretches to loosen up before the competition began; Mr. Mille, paced the kitchen, rubbed his hands, adjusted his pants and retied his apron.

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Judging the competition.Credit
Owen Franken for The New York Times

As the second and final day of the Bocuse d'Or cooking unfolded, the work of the American and French teams reflected their different approaches to the blood sport of competitive cooking.

In their identical kitchens here, Mr. Hollingsworth was a work horse, slicing his oxtail and chopping his onions with strength and deliberation.

His 22-year-old "commis" (assistant), Adina Guest, used even more effort, putting her entire body, it seemed, into the coring of every carrot slice.

Mr. Mille, by contrast, was a race horse, rolling cold, brown pastry dough and filleting his cod with speed, grace and the absence of wasted movement. The head came off in ten seconds. His assistant seemed almost non-existent.

The American team was guided by a typed schedule divided into fifteen-minute segments of instructions for each of them that was taped to a wall.

At 3:35 p.m., for example, Ms. Guest's order was "Heat chestnut puree" while Mr. Hollingworth's was "Assemble smoke balls."

The French chef kept his kitchen sparse, continually wiping the counters and leaving any ingredient that was not about to be used immediately out of sight.

"He anticipates his next gesture," said Jean-Marie Gautier, the French coach renowned as a culinary trainer as much as he is as a chef. Asked why he didn't have a schedule taped to the wall as a guide, Mr. Gautier replied, "It's all in his head. At this level, it better be in your head."

Basil Katz contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: With Cowbells and Oxtails, Culinary Olympics Begin. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe